The Rules Of Eternity
by Dotdodot
Summary: The group that had been actively persuing her in her mad dash suddenly stopped, their expression fearful. Their eyes were locked onto her left arm, the bold red patterns travelling up her arm. She smirked at them, her expression turning dark.


**OHAYO AGAIN MINNA!**

**Okay, so for those who are knew to my stories, or may not even know this, I'm now (as of 2015) in my first year of high school. I came up with this idea in my second year of middle school. I just thought it was a good idea so yeah. Please don't flame on this story. **

**Secondly, I will be updating as I WRITE. So updates may be few and far between if I get swamped by my school work (I'm doing second year Biology). Also, I'm only 14. So if there are pathetic errors, please point them out, but don't make a big deal out of it. **

**Okay. This story is an AU, and it's post apocalyptic; Very Post. It switches to following Lan Fan next chapter. This was just a setup chapter. Well, thanks for clicking on The Rules of Eternity!**

Roy wandered up to the excavation site, his dark thin eyes scouring the pits as a few other archaeologists chiselled away at the volcanic stone. The tapping of the mallets on the chisels breaking away the rock was soothing partially. It was also the type of sound that droned in his ears and pretty much made his ears bleed. As Roy walked past one of the sections marked off by green twine exactly at tripping level. There had been more than one incident. He looked down into the dust filled pit. Covered in dirt was basketball sized melted hunks of metal. These sat in the bases of the pits, looking no different than rocks. Roy thought they faintly looked like pieces of machinery, but he shrugged it off as a silly thought. It was probably just some balled up ores from an explosion or eruption. Besides, Roy and his excavation team had discovered them in the hill after the first few days.

His team were only here the day they discovered the balls for a few rock samples to study nitrates in the soil, the pH level and the density. It was simple enough but it turned into a fully fledged excavation when the metal balls were found. He carefully crossed a wooden board that was placed across a gap in the diggings. It had been placed there when between two pits a wall had fallen away. The board bent dramatically and even groaned a little as Roy strode across it. Roy placed his feet on the rock on the other sides of the pit and scowled at the board, his glare portraying the message 'I'm not that fat.'

Roy walked up behind a middle height blonde woman with a clipboard in her left arm. Roy quietly sneaked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her slightly so her feet only skimmed the ground. She squealed in surprise and slapped his arms. He laughed and let her go, firstly putting her feet back on the dusty ground and then letting go of her waist. The blonde scowled at his childishness before she held out a piece of cloth for him to look at. "We discovered this. We think its leather."

"Leather? Hmm... Someone must have been caught in the eruption."

The girl blinked at him once, her eyes twitching slightly. She was holding back a glare. "Of course."

Roy winked at her and leant in close to whisper in her ear. "Well Riza, it's been a while and this work is very stressful. Maybe we could go to my house and-"

"HOLY SHIT!" a voice echoed across the pits and into the duo's ears. Roy immediately split from Riza, quickly apologising before he turned and ran towards excavation pit 12, which is where the noise had come from. Peering down, he saw what the person who swore meant. He had discovered the cavity of a human body, the edges crumbled slightly. The first fresh air this body cavity had felt.

"Get the plaster!" Roy yelled over his shoulder. He turned to look at them get the plaster ready to make a mould. What a find!

A sharp crack, like electricity, lit up the hollow human cavity with a startling red colour. Roy turned back slowly, eyes widened in shock at what had just happened within the hollow they had found. A human leg was forming from the cavity. You could see the bones slowly grow out and the muscle come up to form over the bones. Roy let a sound out of his mouth that was incredibly high pitched, not quite a scream, not quite a cuss word. It was a mix of the two. Riza was next to him at the time of the 'magical leg' and was the first to react to the sight. She grabbed the largest hammer near them, which was a rubber topped mallet capable of breaking a leg and with one foul swoop slammed it on the top of the cavity where it was quite obvious a human body was forming.

A great cracking sound split the air as the volcanic rock split into many tiny pieces all over the ground, her hands and many other places. She reached up and pulled the stones away from the top of the mountain-like cavity. The naked torso of a girl was underneath the stone and instantly the men looked away embarrassed at the sight but Riza didn't care. As Riza pulled the stones from the face she realised how much worse the situation was getting. The girl wasn't breathing. She wasn't moving. Riza sighed, her shoulders slumping forward and her head falling forward. She wasn't quick enough...

The girl's dark brown eyes shot open and she took a great gasp of air into her lungs as she sat up. Her hands were clawing forward at the dirt, trying to get out of the stones encasing her. She was coughing and panicking, tears sliding down her face and dripping on her ebony hair. Riza pulled both her arms forward and upward, forcing the girl to look into Riza's eyes. She took a deep raspy breath, trying to calm down a little. Dust from the rocks had settled over her face, broken only by her tears causing trails in the fine layer of dust. Riza frowned at this girl's face and pulled her close to her, embracing her softly and trying to have her calm down. The girl stiffened underneath her but eventually relaxed, sagging into her. Riza felt a tap on her shoulders from above the diggings and looked up at the source. Roy was holding out a woollen blanket for Riza to give to the girl to cover her. Riza grasped it firmly in her left hand and wrapped it around the girl in front of her. It was a dark brown colour, a similar colour to the girl's eyes. A flicker of red on the girl's arm caught Riza's eyes causing her to turn and see a sharp red tattoo streaked up her left forearm.

Riza looked sympathetically at the girl. Her eyes were gently focused on the poor child in front of her. "Are you okay?"

"Was?" She replied, a confused look on her face when Riza spoke.

"You must speak another language. Obviously." Riza mumbled to herself, looking a little lost.

"Ich heiβe Lan Fan. Wir heiβt Du." She spoke towards Riza, a small smile on her face.

"I can't understand you."

The girl was frustrated, it was written on her face as she glared at the ground and let out a slow breath. She pointed at herself. "Ich bin Lan Fan."

Riza raised an eyebrow in confusion.

She pointed again. "Lan Fan. Lan. Fan."

Riza understood now; it was the girl's name. She pointed at herself. "Riza."

Lan Fan smiled at Riza, looking relieved.

"C'mon." Riza put both hands on the edge of the pit and hoisted herself out of it. She turned and looked at the girl, offering her a hand for Lan Fan to take to help her out of the hole. Lan Fan gingerly took her hand and was pulled out of the hole.

"Roy, I'm taking her home with me." Riza informed the black haired man in front of her, her arm holding Lan Fan close to her to her body, almost in a protective way. Some people might have even thought the girl was her own.

"Okay."

Riza took Lan Fan's hand and led the dust-covered girl through the excavation sights. Lan Fan held the blanket around her tightly. She coughed out some dust that was inside her throat but kept moving. Her eyes were wide and taking everything in with childish curiosity. Riza opened the front passenger door for her car when they managed to get there and offered for Lan Fan to get in. Lan Fan hesitated, but eventually clambered into the vehicle.

"Ling. Er Hause..." She whispered in slight astonishment.

Riza put the seatbelt on the girl for her as she obviously didn't know how to do it herself. Riza then clambered into the other side and smiled at Lan Fan. "Let's get you home."

Riza's bare feet padded softly on her carpet. She opened the door to her guest room slowly and looked inside. Lan Fan sat on the bed, knees to chest. She was looking at the sunset like it had hypnotised her. Riza gently tapped Lan Fan's shoulder and smiled when Lan Fan turned to look at her. Lan Fan was in a pair of Riza's old pyjamas. The pants were too long and the waist was too wide but Lan Fan made them fit. She had a loose white T-shirt on with a humming bird printed on the front of it and her ebony hair was damp from her recent shower.

"Dinner's ready." Riza said, mimicking her eating out of a bowl. Lan Fan nodded and stood up, following Riza down the hallway into the kitchen where Riza had set two bowls down filled with a hot soup. The spices wafted up her nose and made her stomach grumble. Lan Fan had bare feet so she felt the chill of the tiles spike up her feet as she made her way to the table. Riza smiled at Lan Fan and began to scoop the soup up to her mouth and drink it from the spoon.

Dinner was eaten in silence because really, this girl spoke an older language that no one probably spoke anymore. How can you talk to someone you can't understand and couldn't understand you back. Riza looked at Lan Fan as she went back to her room. She was so thin and small. The fact she regenerated from a cavity of her body in the base of a volcano startled Riza. Dunking her hands in the hot water, Riza began to scrub at the dishes. Black Hayate nosed her leg for the leftovers and she placed down Lan Fan's bowl. She only ate half of the food she was given. Riza didn't mind though, she wouldn't have been that hungry either. She couldn't say the same for Roy however. He was a bottomless pit for food to go into and never return. His stomach was a portal to another dimension.

Lan Fan was silent when Riza was finished. Looking at her feet and smiled at Black Hayate. "What is it boy? Need to go outside?"

Hayate wagged his tail and stood up.

Riza chuckled and opened the glass sliding door to let Hayate out into the small yard she owned. Her house was small when compared to other people, but it was all that she really needed. It had two bedrooms and one bathroom, a kitchen, a living room and a laundry. Riza smiled and closed the dark stained wooden door, waiting for the insistent whining Hayate would let off when he wanted to be let back in after he had done his business. It was cold outside in early summer and Riza could feel the chill when she opened the door prickle her flesh. After two minutes she had to open the door and a little black shape darted inside. Hayate ran in and leapt onto his blue, worn, hair-covered dog bed in her living room, right next to her chair and curled up, closing his eyes.

Riza wandered into the guest room to check on Lan Fan and saw her curled up on the spare bed in a featal position. Soft snores came from the girl as she rested properly. Her shirt had ridden up a bit, her flat, creamy skin displayed in the gap. Lan Fan's chest rose and fell softly and Riza pulled the blanket up to her shoulders.

Riza closed the guest bedroom door gently and walked over to the phone. She needed help. She dialled a familiar number and waited for her friend to pick up.

"Hello?" A soprano voice questioned her.

"Hello Sheska. It's Riza. I need a hand." She replied.

"Oh Riza, hey; sure, what is it you need help with?"

"You're going to have a hard time believing this but there is a girl in my house that we found in our excavations."

"Wait. So you found her at the site?"

"In the site."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know. We found a cavity but she then formed out of it. She speaks another language so we need help."

"Okay Riza... I'll be over tomorrow."

The line went dead, a monotone beep playing through the ear piece. Riza sighed gratefully and wandered into the living room.

"Maybe I'll finish my book." Riza mused as she practically fell into the chair. She picked up a her old copy of A Tale Of Two Cities and pulled out the bookmark after opening to the page that it was wedged between and began reading, practically falling into the book, engrossed in the story.

The old clock she inherited from her grandfather chimed 10 times, signalling the time. Riza lifted her head at the sounds of feet padding through the house, the noise slightly echoing off her plain cream painted walls. Riza put the book down and loaded her little revolver. She was almost certain that it was just Lan Fan, but you can never be sure. She wandered out of the living room and walked into the hallway, the dark looming in front of her giving an eerie feeling. She flicked on the lights but, to no avail, zero volts of power went through the globe to light it.

"Must be a power cut," She whispered under her breath to the darkness, a little annoyed. A movement in the dark caught Riza's attention and she lifted her gun to the shape. Lan Fan wandered out of Riza's room a few moments later, hugging the pillow close to her chest.

"Riza!" She cried, not incredibly loud but it was still too loud for this time of night. Riza would have scolded her if she could communicate with her, but she couldn't, so she just had to give a stern look.

"You should be asleep." She sounded like the poor girl's mother, although Riza doubted she had parents.

The girl pointed at the lights.

"It's a power cut." She explained, although she wasn't sure why. Lan Fan couldn't understand her anyway.

Lan Fan's bottom lip trembled and she almost stumbled over to Riza, the dark making it hard to see little things like a desk's edge. Lan Fan hugged Riza tight and let a little sob out her mouth. Riza was utterly bewildered but brought her hands around in a tight hug. She kept mumbling to herself. "Ling... Ed... Winry... Die Fleshers."

Fleshers

Riza stared at Lan Fan as she continued to shake. She was someone from the period of the white creatures. But, they were just myths! Enigmas! Movies used them for horror to scare viewers with their pale, decaying bodies and their flesh eating. They existed over 1000 years ago when they suddenly disappeared. If Lan Fan saw these things, lived with these things, fought these things, then surely she was a valuable source of information to scientists and the government. Riza kept stroking Lan Fan's silky black hair until she stopped trembling. Riza felt a sudden wave to protect the girl from the prying questions and sharp tools of her future. After a while, when the power came back on, Lan Fan went settled into her room again. Riza was left with her thoughts that would plague her dreams with endless questions.

She soon realised that if Lan Fan was not just linked to the fleshers, but deeply engrained into the mysteries surrounding them. She maybe even knew why they disappeared suddenly. Riza could only hope that they found something, anything that would help them unravel the mystery tomorrow when Shescka came over. Riza didn't find sleep easily that night, and when it did come, it was plagued by an immortal teenager with a red tattoo snaking around her arm.


End file.
